1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for use in removing and/or polishing a stain and/or protrusion from a surface.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
When rolling stocks (e.g., automobiles) are placed in parking lots near railways and iron works, or in places close to construction sites where a coating operation is conducted, iron powder and paint mist tend to gather on the coated surface of the rolling stocks and adhere thereto to form minute protrusions. Such unfavorable protrusions may be difficult to see with a human eye. Conventionally, such protrusions were removed by polishing the surface using a compound or a sand paper.
When a compound or sand paper is applied to a surface to remove protrusions, not only are the protrusions brought into contact with the abrasive, but the coated surface is brought into contact with the abrasive as well. Thus, scratches or flaws may be formed on the coated surface. As illustrated schematically in FIG. 3(a), it can be seen that this conventional method of polishing tends to suffer from poor operability, because the abrasive force tends to be fully exerted on the coated surface as well as the protrusions if and when the abrasive force is fully applied to the protrusions.
With a view toward ameliorating the poor operability of the conventional method, practitioners have previously proposed in JP-B-4-11335 (the term "JP-B-" as referred to herein signifies "an examined published Japanese patent application") and U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,416 a plastic flexible tool including a plastic flexible material having mixed therewith fine abrasive such as silica sand and calcium carbonate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,416 matured from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/102,972 and is incorporated hereby by reference.
As noted previously, some surface imperfections may be minute and/or "blend" with the surface in certain light. Thus, some stains and/or protrusions may be relatively difficult to see with a human eye. Since a plastic flexible tool tends to be selectively applied by a practitioner, the practitioner may not readily see a surface imperfection when applying the plastic flexible tool. Thus, some surface imperfections may not be treated by the practitioner with the plastic flexible tool. For instance, a practitioner may apply the plastic flexible tool to an automobile on a cloudy day and not treat surface imperfections which are more visible on a sunny day. Costly and/or tedious repeat treatments may be necessitated.